MEDITATIONS: I CHING; THE BOOK OF CHANGES, CANTO NINE

Accumulate—Small—Offering
|OR| Small Development

Be on the lookout for complicated situations and remember that complex things are composed of simple things. Approach the complex with an eye towards this fact. Recognize where you are over-extended and pull back to rectify the situation. (Bright-Fey 47)

Small development is successful. Dense clouds, not raining, come from one’s own western region.

Yang1: Returning by the path, what fault can there be? This return is auspicious.

Yang 2: Leading back bodes well.

Yang 3: The wheels are detached from the car; husband and wife look askance at each other.

Yin 4: With sincerity blood goes, regret leaves, and there is no blame.

Yang 5: Having sincerity is attractive, like sharing wealth with the neighbors.

Yang 6: Once it has rained and settled, accumulation of virtue is esteemed. The wife is upright in danger.

The moon is almost full. An expedition bodes ill for the leadership. (Cleary 41-48)

The ninth hexagram is composed of wind and heaven, that is firmness and creativity on the inside while exhibiting obedience and initiative on the outside. This is a seeming of yielding while actually being a voluntary state of cooperation. The masculine force is allowing itself to be lead by the feminine, which is to say that the stronger is voluntarily stepping back to give room for the feminine—Yang decreases the length of its stride that Yin may keep up with it.

These small steps are the small developments for which this canto is named. When engaged in the complexities which come with any close relationship, the leader must necessarily moderate himself if he and his group are to remain balanced. Surely, he who is quicker, stronger, smarter, or more diligent can sprint ahead along his path—but in so doing, he estranges himself from the people around him. Estranged, he can no longer relate to them, nor them to him. This is represented in the “dense clouds” which are “not raining.” These clouds are potential which cannot be released because such potential requires the participation of other people.

When over-extended as priorly described, the correct path of action is to go back and lead. This “going back” is the refraining of racing forward despite one’s ability to do so. Instead, one does what is proper: he allows himself to be constrained and held back by the feminine principle. This is akin to a husband and wife. A husband of virtuous character and cultivated ability might be capable of working and producing a great fortune. However, he who does so while neglecting his wife and children at home only achieves misery in his personal life which inevitably bleeds into his business practices. He might succeed at building an empire of money, but it will not be a lasting legacy. What comes after will succumb to its culture of greed and expediency over sincerity, honor, and fairness.

Allowing himself to be constrained by the needs of his wife and children, the husband must take smaller steps toward his success. This is the way to a lasting legacy, because the culture fostered by such an attitude and approach takes into account the needs of all involved. People and problems don’t get looked over but instead get looked after and taken care of. And eventually, the great distance is travelled, only the traveler is not alone but part of a community which has progressed together. This is the meaning of the first two Yangs.

The third yang is a warning. This principle can be taken too far, and when it is, the masculine natural leader gives in totally to the feminine. Rather than leading by allowing himself to be constrained, the husband is allowing the wife to stop his progress completely. This is like a cart without wheels. Such relationships become stagnant and endangered. Closeness turns to personal hatred as the husband and wife come to resent one another—the husband for being held back from cultivating his character and career, and the wife by two folds: for being forced into responsibilities which she does not desire, as well as for being stuck with a husband that she does not respect—she wants to be married to an upwardly mobile leader, not a lingering layabout.

The fourth Yin describes how the weaker in a relationship should relate to the stronger, and that is by being sincere. The wife who communicates her needs honestly, despite the vulnerability that entails, can actually receive what she wants. Moreover, she cultivates her own character. She becomes stronger by practicing being honest with herself through being honest to her husband about what she wants. In this way, she can lead despite her dependence and subordinate position.

Abstracting this to the level of the individual, one has both masculine and feminine aspects of the self. For those pursuing virtue, wealth, power, fame, or other forms of attainment, it is easy to become unbalanced by the Yang principle. However, this estranges one from oneself, and he makes himself a slave to his work when really one’s work ought to be the servant and means to meaning and happiness. This is why it is also right to indulge the Yin aspects of oneself. Such self-care is like a husband attending to his wife. He takes smaller steps in order to afford her the time. Likewise, a man might tend to his hobbies or his health, or he might delight in occasional small vices in order not to bring about animosity between his conscious-ego and unconscious-animal self.

Yang five rests in the position of leadership. Outwardly, if one is sincere in one’s goals, what he is willing and not willing to do or to compromise on, then he can most effectively relate with others. He will become an attractive leader as a consequence. Others will feel that they have some power and thereby representation in the relationship, and so they will happily and obediently fulfill their roles. After all, the leader is likewise acquiescing and being obedient to a certain and clear degree, so why should others not follow his modelled behavior?

This creates a slowly rising tide which raises all boats, and the cumulative benefit ultimately supersedes the elevation of a single man apart from his fellows. Here, the weaker in relationships can withstand the hardships and dangers of life, for they have respect for the stronger leader. They esteem his virtues and seek to emulate them. This is the core of the sixth Yang. After many small developments, the rain finally falls through the proper relating of the masculine and strong to the feminine and weak. Harmony is thus reached through increment, not through force or sudden revolution.

However, there is still the risk of going too far. There will come a point at which the “moon is almost full.” This is the moment before the feminine symbol becomes equal to the solar masculine. At this juncture, the leader should stop acquiescing to those subordinate to him. It is proper that the strong lead the weak, than the masculine leads the feminine. If the Yin becomes equal to the Yang, it will naturally begin to oppose it and try even to take over its dominant position. If this happens, the whole of the relationship will fall out of balance as described in the third Yang. Role will become reversed, and then resentment and a failure to progress the relationship will be inevitable. That is why an “expedition bodes ill.” The cart one would take will lose its wheels.

I Ching; The Book of Changes, with commentaries by Cheng Yi, translated by Thomas Cleary, Shambala Library, 2003.

I Ching: The Book of Changes; An authentic Taoist translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2006.